A DAY AFTER NIRBHAYA CONVICTS' EXECUTION, UN ASKS STATES TO 'HALT USE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT'

The United Nations on 21 March 2020 called on all nations to stop the use of capital punishment or put a moratorium on it, a day after four men convicted of gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman were hanged in India.
Seven years after the rape and murder of the young medical student, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', sent shock waves across the country, the four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) - were hanged to death on 20 March at 5.30 am in New Delhi's Tihar Jail.
Responding to the hanging, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the world organization calls on all nations to stop the use of capital punishment or put a moratorium on it.
"Our position has been clear, is that we call on all States to halt the use of capital punishment or at least put a moratorium on this," Dujarric said at the daily press briefing on 20 March.
The gang-rape and murder of the physiotherapy intern on 16 December 2012, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, the fearless, had seared the nation's soul and triggered countrywide outrage.